Gym Battles Redone
by ramasioti100
Summary: Ash could have done all of his gym battles a lot better than the Anime showed. So he is about to rectify that problem.
1. Roxanne

**Gym Battles Redone**

 **And so the first chapter of a long story. It was rather spontaneous but I still want to try it out. This time, each chapter concentrates in one of the Gym battles Ash could have done better by simply choosing other Pokemon more suited for the battle at hand.**

 **We start in Hoenn because that was the time, when Ash started forgetting he had very strong Pokemon back home. So get ready for some serious OP Ash like never seen before in my stories! And that's saying a lot already.**

 **I'm sure that in my rush I made a lot of grammar mistakes. So skip them and just don't tell me where they are.**

 **Copyrights: I don't own Pokemon. How more clear do I have to be? If I did, Ash wouldn't be lame. And he wouldn't have a weird Greninja.**

* * *

 **Chapter 1: Roxanne**

Thirteen-year-old Pokemon trainer dressed in blue called Ash Ketchum stood on one side of the rocky arena, with his Electric starter Pikachu at his side. His travelling friends gym leader Brock, future coordinator May and her little brother Max were in the stances preparing for the gym battle to start soon.

"So Ash are you ready for our match?" The cute lady on the other side asked her new acquaintance. She was Roxanne, Rock-type leader of Rustboro City. On the stances were her dozen of students, ready to see their teacher on a gym battle.

Ash looked down towards his Pikachu and his two Pokeballs resting on his waist. He only had Taillow a Flying type from this region, which was weak to Rock moves. And his other Pokemon the Grass starter Treecko, one that would certainly and most probably have an advantage here. If it knew Grass moves. Which it didn't.

So far Ash thought that teaching Pikachu and Treecko how to use **Iron Tail** for this battle would actually help. But the two hadn't mastered the move yet. And Taillow was still practicing **Steel Wing** by the same method. The seasoned trainer couldn't just use a move that may cancel out while performing it. His defeat would be more than embarrassing.

So maybe Ash had to make a choice very different from his original idea to take on the Hoenn region. Instead of just relaying on the Pokemon he would catch in this region, he had to call back some of his old friends resting in Pallet Town with Professor Oak.

"Yeah, about that" The trainer stated scratching his head. He smiled making up his mind about what to do "I'll be back in a few minutes, prepare the badge!" The challenger run off at high speed, leaving a trail of smoke behind like Animes did. Pikachu was scratching its head with his tail not knowing what his best friend was up to.

"Isn't he a little bit overconfident?" May asked from the sidelines scratching her hair. She knew Ash was rather forward but not to this kind of level.

"Usual Ash when you get to know him" Brock replied smiling. After two regions, the gym leader was used to Ash' sudden actions.

* * *

A few minutes later, the trainer from Kanto ran back into the arena. He went to his side of the field and saw some of Roxanne' students had fallen asleep. He coughed bringing the attention to him.

"Sorry it took so long" Ash returned panting a bit after his running. Yet his grin was not leaving his face "Do you have my badge ready?"

"We'll see if you are worthy of it" The Rock-type leader stated with a grin. The referee raised his two flags.

Brock was now looking at things more closely. His young friend had always been quite boaster about his team's prowess. But the fact it was going this far may mean something else for this battle.

" **This is an official two-on-two gym battle between Roxanne and the challenger Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town in Kanto. There's no time limit and only the challenger is allowed to substitute his Pokemon at any moment. Now send out your first Pokemon!** " The referee said.

"Go Totodile!" Ash called out his Pokemon. It was a rather short-sized blue-scaled crocodile standing on two legs. The Jaw Pokemon was dancing around like it always did.

"Ash called back Totodile?" The Rock-type leader from Kanto stated rather surprised. Ash had told him that he had wanted to train a new team from scratch in Hoenn. But maybe he had now come to regret that choice. A lot of his Pokemon back home were very powerful already. And if properly trained, they could be unstoppable.

"Type advantage, no surprise there" Roxanne stated looking quite smug. She was too used to type advantage like Grass, Water, Ground or even Fighting "Go Geodude!" The one rock with two arms stood in the arena with a mean look. Totodile was oblivious to it, dancing around as usual

" **Geodude vs Totodile, begin!** " The referee started the battle.

"Use **Rock Throw**!" Roxanne started the battle. Her Rock Pokemon dug its hands into the soil and flung giant sharp rocks at the rival. Totodile stopped dancing suddenly full serious.

" _Just like against Brock all those years ago_ " Ash said to himself remembering those old days. He smiled knowing Totodile had some new moves. Apparently Professor Oak forgot to mention him that his Pokemon had been training back home "Okay Totodile, use your **Aqua Jet**!" The water starter from Johto suddenly had its body covered in water, flying around the rocks and towards the enemy like an air torpedo.

"It seems Totodile has been training while Ash was gone" Brock stated analyzing the battle. **Aqua Jet** was a powerful move if done right. And Totodile was executing it as smooth as you could possibly do it. It was obvious Ash leaving his Pokemon behind may have motivated them to train even more.

The water-covered starter hit Geodude straight in the face, sending it rolling backwards an inch or two. Leaving the starter from Johto very close to him. Something the gym leader was going to take advantage off.

"Use **Focus Punch**!" Roxanne ordered now. Her Rock Pokemon threw his glowing fist aiming to bring down all of the crocodile's teeth.

"Come on Totodile, use **Crunch** on that fist!" Ash ordered, earning many surprised looks from the students. And May And Max. And Brock. And the referee. And Roxanne.

The water starter obeyed the order, his glowing teeth munching down on the incoming punch and not letting go. Ash knew first hand that Totodiles were vicious bitters. So Roxanne would have a hard time getting free from him. Geodude grimaced in pain shaking his arm to let loose the annoyance. The gym leader was now frowning. This was really nothing conventional like she had ever seen.

" **Focus Punch** against the ground!" Roxanne comanded also rather spontaneously. Geodude use the arm with the Water Pokemon attached and started punching the ground. Though using Totodile as his own punch. The ground cave a bit each attack with the incredible strength applied. One could see that Totodile was hurting by the blows he was been forced to take. The unbearable pain finally overpowered Totodile's jaw grip making him stop his biting and sending him careening back with another Fighting move. His small legs plowed a small trench on his way until halting a bit out of breath.

"Now **Roll Out**!" The gym leader ordered. Her Pokemon obeyed, becoming a living ball and heading for the starter of the Johto region.

"Totodile, don't give up and fight back with **Water Gun**!" Ash ordered. Totodile followed no matter how much damage he had, unleashing a stream of water from his jaws. The beam was slowly stopping Geodude but the Rock Pokemon was somehow using more strength and slowly fighting the ever-coming current. Ash grinded his teeth in sheer frustration. This wasn't good at all. If Totodile was eventually hit then it was over.

Incredibly, the starter did have the same train of thoughts as his trainer. He didn't want to lose. The tinny crocodile applied even more energy behind his Water blast. The water beam almost instantly doubled in size, sending the Rock Pokemon rolling backwards to its side of the field screaming in pain by the super damage received.

"Wow, you turned **Water Gun** into **Hydro Pump**!" Ash said with a beaming smile at his Water Pokemon. Totodile started dancing again, when his body started glowing in white light.

"It's evolving!" Max said from the sidelines, incredibly anxious about witnessing such an event. He had seen that Poochyena evolving but not an evolution in the middle of a battle aside from on TV. And on live was way cooler.

The light died down and the new Pokemon appeared. It was a bit taller than Totodile, with a jaw relatively normal to its new tubby body. Its scales were a bit lighter shade of blue with a yellow belly.

Ash and may scanned the new Croconaw in the arena. And in the trainer's case, he discovered some new moves his Pokemon had learnt.

Roxanne was now a bit terrified. If Totodile had harmed her Pokemon, then Croconaw could now do even more damage. She had to end the fight as quickly as she could.

"Geodude, use another **Roll Out**!" The gym leader and teacher ordered, with her Pokemon following. This second **Roll Out** in a row was made stronger and faster. But neither Ash and Croconaw were in the least worried about it.

"Okay Croconaw, use **Surf**!" Ash ordered ready to finish the battle. His Pokemon punched the ground and a giant water wave washed it all over. The liquid disappeared after a few seconds, leaving a drenched and knocked out Geodude in the wet field.

" **Geodude is unable to battle. Croconaw wins. Gym leader, send out your last Pokemon**!" The referee said.

The hot gym leader looked rather surprised. This trainer was really strong. She had to be very cautious about how to handle him and his Pokemon. She only had one left and type advantage seemed to be playing a huge factor.

"Go Nosepass!" Roxanne called out her next Pokemon. The Compass Pokemon stood like a giant rock statue with a dark blue body and a giant nose. Ash and May scanned the Pokemon with their Pokedexs.

"Okay Croconaw, come back" Ash said to his Water Pokemon, who run back to his side with Pikachu. The two Pokemon started talking leaving Ash with one Pokeball to summon "You are up, Bayleef!" The raven-haired teenager called out the Grass starter from Johto. The second-form of Chikorita stood quite shorter than Nosepass with a dinosaur body.

Brock smiled. It was obvious that Totodile wasn't going to be the only last-minute substitution for Ash. This battle was getting more interesting with each passing round.

" **Nosepass vs Bayleef, begin!** " The referee said.

"End this quickly with **Rock Tomb**!" The gym leader of Hoenn ordered. However, Ash was already countering before his Pokemon could be potentially hindered.

"Jump with your **Vine Whips** and use **Stun Spore**!" The challenger ordered. Bayleef used a good old strategy from the Johto league, propelling herself high into the ceiling with her vines. Right after she did that, rocks covered the place, where she had been standing on. Moving her neck while air-bound, purple dust covered the arena hitting the Rock-type rival. Nosepass was now shuddering feeling unable to move due to the paralyzing move.

"Use **Zap Cannon**!" Roxanne ordered desperately. Nosepass created a sickly green electric sphere on its nose firing it. But the move, which already had great chances of missing, was fired even slower due to the status change affecting the Rock-type speed. Bayleef didn't even have to move an inch. The blast just flew three meters next to her without static even reaching her skin.

"I think you missed" Ash stated chuckling. His victory was drawing near "Use **Razor Leaf**!" However, Bayleef growled out stomping the ground almost like it was calling out for something. Ash thought that his starter didn't want to fight anymore. Which was weird because Bayleef would be the first one to volunteer if Ash ever needed a Pokemon.

Until the white light also swallowed her up.

"What the..." No one had time to wonder or marvel, as now an even taller Pokemon stood in the arena with a bright lime skin and a flower collar around its sauropod neck. The fruit-like smell it released was capable of snaring the senses.

The thirteen year old trainer was almost gawking. His Grass starter had fully-evolved. He'd never really pushed his Pokemon to evolve unless they did want to, ever since the forest incident with Bulbasaur. And also because Ash didn't want them to evolve too fast for him to end up trying to handle another hot-headed Charizard, if with another elemental type, like Grass in this situation. Maybe his Pokemon loved battles much more than he did because Meganium was pointing at him to order her another move while Nosepass was still affected.

Ash couldn't stop his smirk after checking out some of her new moves. This was going to be so sweat.

"Okay Meganium, finish this battle with **Frenzy Plant**!" Meganium stomped the ground with incredible might, giant vines covered with thorns lashing Nosepass. The Compass Pokemon could only yowl in pain and its trainer could only watch in shock how her Pokemon was white-washed into submission. The statue-shaped Pokemon fell backwards completely black-and-blue and with swirls for eyes.

" **Nosepass is unable to battle. Meganium wins. The challenger Ash Ketchum is the winner!** " The referee declared.

"Wow, that was awesome!" Max declared. He was always surprised by his friend's tactics. Ever since the first time he had watched Ash fighting in the Silver Conference.

"Indeed, it seems Ash's Pokemon still want to get stronger even if Ash didn't bring them with him" Brock stated with his arms across his chest.

* * *

"Well Ash, as promised here's my Stone Badge" Roxanne handled her cobalt-colored symbol. Ash was still a bit flabbergasted when he grabbed it. Meganium brought him back with a **Vine Whip** slap to the back of the head. Though with her new power, the slap almost sent her trainer to the other side of the arena with a severe case of migraine. Many of the children laughed by the display.

Ash stood up still unable to believe it. He thought that training a new team in Hoenn from scratch was going to help him. But now that he looked at Meganium and Croconaw, the trainer realized he would have only deprived these Pokemon from getting stronger. That had been his mistake back in the Silver and Indigo Conference. Just relaying on his strongest members like he had done with Charizard wasn't going to do the job for this or any future league.

All of his Pokemon had to be the strongest they could. Even if it meant beating legends.

* * *

 **Notes from Chapter 1:**

 **Okay Ash called back two friends we are very fond off. Seriously, I think if Totodile and Bayleef are given the chance, they can evolve in the Anime.**

 **Remember we are only going for the gym battles. There won't be in between training scenes. At the most a short recap of the off-screen training Ash put his Pokemon through.**

 **And also Ash might not help May and Dawn to train because they take his time to train away. And he definitely won't even think of traveling with Iris. Serena...still an unrefined topic I won't talk about unless I really have to.**

* * *

 **And Ash has defeated his first Hoenn gym with little problem. See next chapter for another gym beating!**


	2. Brawly

**Gym Battles Redone**

 **Well you people have liked this new story of mine. It's not hard to update it. But soon I'll start my studies again and updates are going to take a real setback for all of my stories.**

 **For now, however, let's enjoy this new gym beating!**

* * *

 **Chapter 2: Brawly**

The raven-haired trainer from Kanto stood against Brawly, gym leader of Dewford Town. He stood five seven looking a bit like a surfer guy with light blue hair. The two combatants were inside a rock cave formed by the erosion of the water waves of the sea. Spikes protruded from the ground and sometimes streams of boiling-hot vapor were expelled to the outside. This wasn't the gym but a place where the leader had trained a few times before.

Ash and company had arrived in Dewford Town a few days ago but the gym leader had been busy at that time surfing. Which had actually given the trainer from Kanto enough time to catch his new Water-type Corphish and train up his team for the battle at hand. He had known that this gym was a Fighting expert so he had to prepare a proper Pokemon team and work them up into peak condition. The trainer made sure they had learnt a few new moves and also to work on many type resistances. Ever since his battle with Roxanne, Ash had been constantly switching his Pokemon, to make sure all of his friends from Kanto to his most recent Hoenn captures remained at top shape or to make them even stronger. Those Pokemon that were switched usually also had been previously ordered by Ash to keep training back at the Oak lab, where they would have more training partners in the other Pokemon at the ranch.

Normally Ash trained mostly on his own, although Max always wanted to see his idol training. The kid was overly-excited to become a trainer himself after seen how powerful Ash's team truly was. However, the kid with glasses was still without seen Charizard called back for a battle. Brock also sometimes offered his input with a few battles. Which he amazingly ended up losing most of the times. Ash was definitely making each Pokemon he substituted stronger than before. The gym leader from Kanto had recently caught a Lotad, a unique Water/Grass Pokemon and he wanted it to get stronger but against Ash's more experienced Pokemon, stood no hell of a chance. May was the only one who didn't offer much of an input as she was more concentrated on becoming a coordinator. But with both Ash and Brock more worried about training then the brunette didn't get to know many things about how to handdle Pokemon and their moves.

The referee walked into its improvised booth made out of carved rock by the years of water erosion. On the sidelines, Ash's companions Brock, May and Max were ready to see the battle alongside battle girl Shawna. She had a sort of crash for the good-looking gym leader. But somehow, Ash also looked quite cute from her point of view. So she was kind of

"Let's see if Ash's training has paid off" Brock stated looking at the soon-to start battle.

"Who cares?" May grumpily said folding her arms across her chest in annoyance. Because Ash and Brock weren't helping her, then she got to embarrass herself in the last contest with her Beautifly performing all the wrong moves they had worked.

"You are just angry because he isn't helping you train for your contests" The nine-year-old kid stated with a winning grin towards his sister. Who looked back at him with a murderous look. Next to them Shauna, the battle girl giggled. She wasn't much into coordination. Brawl was pretty much the only answer she had ever needed in her life.

The lady dressed in a sweat top and middle-thigh-long shorts and trainers was looking at the arena with blazing eyes. She had always had a sort of crush for the Fighting Gym leader. But seen Ash from her point of view invited more feelings into her than those towards Brawly. After their recent battle, where she had been man-handled by a mere Bulbasaur against her Meditite, then the trainer from another region had been in her mind all day and all night. That was before he had saved her from falling out of a cliff during the thunderstorm of the previous day, when the group had to hide inside a cave.

That certainly had brought her close to Ash. Literally as she had woken up after apparently snuggling into his chest at night.

" **This is an official two-on-two Gym battle between gym leader Brawly and the challenger Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town in Kanto. There's no time limit and the challenger is the only one allowed to substitute his Pokemon. Now send out your first Pokemon!** " The referee said.

"Machop, let's rumble!" The blue-haired gym leader called out his first team member. The Fist Pokemon appeared. It was a blue humanoid looking a bit like a scrawny four-feet tall fighter wearing a black boxer.

"Go Muk!" The raven-haired trainer sent out his own Pokemon for the match. The purple-colored slimy Pokemon from Kanto appeared in its sliminess.

Brock smiled on the sidelines. It was about time that Muk got back on the circuit after its last battle been in the Silver Conference.

" **Machop vs Muk, begin!** " The referee said.

"Use **Karate Chop**!" Brawly attacked head on very confident. Quite weird considering his type disadvantage. The Fighting Pokemon rapidly charged with his hand glowing white.

" **Acid Armor**!" Ash countered. His Poison Pokemon made its body glow yellow, his defence amplifying by two stages. The incoming chop hit it at the top of the head, briefly dazzling Muk. But the Slug Pokemon shook his head regaining his senses.

"Nice" The blue-haired leader stated in compliment. However, he was fuming on the inside. His Machop didn't know any special attacks to keep its distance from any close disadvantage attack. And now all of its melee attacks would do even less damage by the amplified defence stat. But any injury counted for his victory "Now go with **Drain Punch**!" The Fighting Pokemon again shot a red-glowing clothesline straight on Muk's face. The Poison-type skidded back a few inches, yowling in pain. His life force had been passed into the enemy.

Suddenly Machop fell on his knees a purple aura covering him. All the health he had stolen had been evaporated and was going even lower. Ash smiled after his cunning thought had worked out. Muk's ability **Poison Point** had worked like a clockwork.

" **Poison Gas**!" Ash kept the pressure on while it lasted. His Slug Pokemon from Kanto let loose a thick purple mist from its wide jaws. Machop coughed, his lungs burning and receiving even more effective damage. The poisoned status became severe poisoning sapping more life force out of him with each passing second.

Brawly was at two heads of how to proceed. If his Pokemon attacked head on again then Ash would counter and finish him. And if he didn't attack, Ash would still get the win. His Machop's ability was **Steadfast** , which avoided flinching. Too bad it wasn't **Guts**.

"Finish this with **Venoshock!** " Ash ordered as the Fighting Pokemon was not going to attack anytime soon and neither did its trainer looked ready to attack. Muk barfed green gastro-acid into the kneeling Pokemon. Because Machop was poisoned, the move did twice the damage, duplicating also by its type advantage. The Fighting type didn't stood a hell of a chance of keep fighting falling with swirls for eyes.

" **Machop is unable to battle. Muk wins. Gym leader, send out your last Pokemon!** " The referee said. The two trainers in the arena recalled their Pokemon for a rest and prepared their next call.

"Hariyama, let's go!" Brawly called out his last Pokemon. It was a plump Pokemon with giant hands and a mean look on his face.

"Quilava, I choose you!" The challenger sent out his second Pokemon. The second form of Cyndaquil appeared, with a bit longer body and fire on his head and rear. The Fire starter had been training with Ash and his friends for days and had finally broken through the evolutionary threshold like Totodile and Bayleef had done before him. And that had made him learn a few effective moves that could turn the battle today.

" **Hariyama vs Quilava, begin**!" The referee said.

"Go with **Flame Wheel**!" Ash started right away ready for his next victory. The starter from Johto rolled on itself covering his ferret body in red flames.

"Prepare to use **Thunder Punch**!" Brawly countered hoping it would work. This battle was a complete white wash against him. His Karate Pokemon balled its fist, making it shine with the power of a yellow thunderbolt.

" **Flamethrower** while rolling!" Ash ordered his worked strategy. The Fire starter spew flames while rolling, creating mad-swinging waves of blaze into the enemy, who could only take them head on and grunting in pain by doing so. And also doubling the original power of the **Flame Wheel**. The incoming Fire starter hit the grimacing Fighting Pokemon, sending it skidding backwards. Suddenly its chubby body erupted in fire, indicating its status change of burn. More of its health dropped by the second.

But Hariyama still looked ready to fight, despite the significant damage it had recently taken. It had to have the ability **Thick Fat** , which reduced Fire and Ice damage.

"Use **Force Palm**!" Brawly ordered. His Pokemon run forward at great speed, his wide open palms ready to attack. But Quilava was standing still ready to counter at any second.

" **Smoke Screen**!" Ash countered at the exact moment he wanted. The Fire starter barfed the thick cloud of smoke. Hariyama stopped dead on his tracks unable to see its opponent "Now let's go with **Swift**!" The shower of stars came through the fog straight in front of Hariyama. The Fighting-type crossed his arms over his chest, the barrage hitting him. The stars pushed him back a few inches but it seemed to not have done much.

"Not so effective, Ash" Brawly stated suddenly very confident about his new chances of winning "Use **Focus Punch**!" The Breaking Pokemon rose his humongous fist making it glow pure white.

The trainer from Kanto prepared its final trump-card of the day with an almost evil smirk. A unique move that could turn the tide on his favor faster than a Pokemon using **Extreme Speed**.

" **Aerial Ace**!" Ash ordered earning a wide look out of everyone. And a horrified expression from the gym leader and his Fighting Pokemon. Quilava charged with a white aura enshrouding its body. The Fire Pokemon quickly moved to its right eluding the incoming downwards fist with blurring speed. He turned midway and slammed its Fire mouse body against the chubby Pokemon, earning a scream of white-hot agony. Hariyama rolled backwards until hitting a rock pillar shattering it into thousand pieces. Everyone could see the swirls for eyes.

" **Hariyama is unable to battle. Quilava is the winner. Ash Ketchum is the winner**!" The referee said ending the battle.

"Yeah, we did it!" The trainer said out loud, his Fire starter tackling him. After evolving, his now Quilava had gotten a bit more affectionate.

"Yes, that was a battle!" Shauna blurted out in excitement standing up from her sit and pumping her arms. Her Meditite followed her example. The other three viewers in the arena sweat-dropped by her antics.

"Here you have, Ash. My Knuckle Badge" The gym leader handed his badge to his rival of the day. He couldn't believe how overpowered he had been and completely unable to counter the type advantages.

The trainer from Kanto held his brand-new badge, not noticing the incoming human missile until it was late. The battle girl from Hoenn hugged Ash with a deadly bear hug, that kicked the air out of Ash' sails.

"Ash, you were so great!" The battle lady hugged the teenager, making sure her boobs were pressing hard on his chest. Something Ash quickly noticed and tried not to nose-bleed too much. She was hot and she knew how to use it on his favor. Despite her been one or two years his senior, it seemed she didn't care about that factor for her crush.

May glared at the lady hugging tightly on her crush. If she were an alien from comics, her heat vision would have already burnt the intruder to a crisp. How dare she hug HER Ash?

Meanwhile, Max was dragging a crying Brock by his ear, the former crying about 'the injustices of life'.

* * *

 **Notes from Chapter 2:**

 **We now also have Quilava. And as we watched in Sinnoh, Quilava learnt Aerial Ace somehow. Fire Pokemon really know how to keep advantage over grass.**

 **As I promised, Ash didn't help May train. And she is angry about that. But Ash doesn't give a shit about what she thinks.**

 **Ash won with type advantage. That's something you can't just not use when you can.**

 **Ash already developed the counter shield. Though not all of his Pokemon will learn it.**

 **It seems Ash has drawn a lot of lady attention already and he is only thirteen. He isn't so oblivious to ladies because he did hit puberty recently.**

* * *

 **And the second badge is down for the count! Check the next chapter!**


	3. Wattson

**Gym Battles Redone**

 **And another Gym leader battle is here! Updates are slow but coming their way. Studies must be my first priority.**

 **Also remember to check the pole on my profile. It's been almost a whole year since I set it up and yet votes keep coming. So keep it up because I still don't have a winner.**

 **Now for some Anime current events: Ash lost to Alain. No shocker there. A Mega capable of beating ten Megas, one of them from an Elite Four. No Greninja-human fusion can handdle such badassness from Mega-Charizard X. Also Ash got a Noivern during the battle against Zapdos. The first fully-evolved Dragon-type in his team. Gible should learn about evolving soon instead of waiting five seasons.**

 **Now which Pokemon of Ash will evolve against Articuno? Maybe one of his old ones returns with Mega form? Or a completely new Pokemon from Kalos, like Trevenant? Ash still has to capture his Grass type from the region like he usually did in the other regions.**

 **That's all in the Anime so far. Without any further notice to inform, let's head into the story!**

* * *

 **Chapter 3: Wattson**

The raven-haired trainer was standing against Mauville City gym leader Wattson. The man looked a bit aged, maybe entering his late fifties. But he had quite a happy and easy-going attitude. He sometimes moved faster than someone younger than him could. Considering the welcome door was an automatic roller coaster then one could actually guess why challengers were a bit shaken up during their badge battle. Not to mention the Raikou-like robot at the end of the pass to scare the hell out of newbies.

Not that Ash minded. He had seen Entei and Suicune in his three years as a trainer. So one fake Raikou wasn't that big deal of impressive. If it were real, however, it would be a whole other story.

It had been a few weeks since Ash's last gym battle with Brawly had occurred. And nothing much had changed since then. The trainer from Kanto had as usual kept training his team, capturing one Mudkip from the dozen or so, that lived near Dewford City. This time, however, training had been a bit tougher as Ash didn't have many Ground-type Pokemon on his team and his new Mudkip wasn't ready to evolve into Marshtomp anytime soon. But the experienced trainer knew how to make do with the team members he had prepared for this badge match.

Although catching more Ground-types and even Steel and Dragon types, however, was also in his to-do list for the future. He could not be a proper Pokemon Master without having at least all the types.

Brock and Max were gazing at the soon-to-start battle very excited about how the fight would turn out. May was just sitting with a pouting face and her arms crossed over her chest. She was still not over the fact Ash had gone out with Shauna and possibly scored some make-out sessions with her. What did that lousy lady had that she didn't? A nice set of breasts, smoking-hot body, the fact she loved Pokemon Battles as much as Ash did?

Her murderous yandere desires got even bigger. Why couldn't Ash see the beauty in her contests shows? Just because she had been loosing to the green-haired dick boy and the cross-dresser asshole didn't make her a loser.

" **This is an official three-on-three gym battle between Gym leader Wattson and the challenger Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town in Kanto. Only the challenger is allowed to substitute his Pokemon at any moment and there's no time limit. Now send out your first Pokemon!** " The referee said.

"Voltorb, let's go!" The gym leader called out his first Pokemon. It was a Pokeball-body creature with a grinning face.

"Bulbasaur, I choose you!" Ash called out his first Pokemon. The Pokemon from the Kanto region landed on four tubby legs, with lime-colored skin and green bulb on its back. The Grass starter was grinning towards the opponent obviously liking to be back in the fighting circuit.

Grass types had resistance to Electric moves so it definitely was going to help now. Besides, Bulbasaur was one of Ash's most experienced team members after been with him for all of Kanto, Orange Islands and even most of Johto. You just didn't travel for so long without getting stronger in the process. And handling other rambunctious Pokemon in the Oak lab kind of helped you learn how to bring down a few Pokemon bigger than oneself.

" **Voltorb vs Bulbasaur, begin**!" The referee said starting the battle.

"Use **Thunderbolt**!" Wattson started things up. His Pokemon let loose powerful blue volts all over the field. But Ash wasn't worried.

"Run with **Agility** and use **Leech Seed**!" In the blink of an eye, Bulbasaur zigzagged around the volts with his speed increasing with each stride. The starter jumped one last incoming volt before flinging a brown seed from the top of its bulb. The seed erupted into thorn-covered vines, which wrapped around the Electric-type, draining its life points and giving them to Bulbasaur.

But Wattson wasn't deterred at all by this.

"Use **Rapid Spin**!" The elder leader ordered now surprising Ash. His Pokemon started spinning like a living tornado. The attack got rid of the leeching move and now the Electric Pokemon was coming at high speed hitting Bulbasaur straight in the face. The starter stumbled backwards by the unexpected attack.

* * *

"Nice strategy" Brock said now, looking more seriously at the battle. Max looked at the gym leader very intrigued "The moves capable of getting rid of **Leech Seed** are very limited. I guess Wattson had that one up his sleeve just in case" The two males returned their sight to the arena.

* * *

Ash frowned a bit. Unexpected? Yes. Unbeatable...hell no!

The black-haired trainer saw Voltorb coming into his Grass starter again.

"Bulbasaur, stop it with **Vine Whips** and send it flying!" Ash comanded. Bulbasaur sent its vines wrapping them at the incoming spinning rival. Voltorb was suddenly lifted from the ground and thrown into the concrete ceiling of the gym. The Electric Pokemon grunted in pain currently falling.

"Use **Roll Out**!" Wattson comanded now with an idea. His Pokeball Pokemon started plummeting while rolling forward at ever-increasing speed thanks to the gravity. But the opponent from Kanto wasn't going to stop his winning streak now.

"Counter with **Rock Climb**!" Ash countered. Bulbasaur growled out its name stomping the ground with his glowing front claws. A giant rock pillar erupted from beneath him and lifted him at high speed to meet the rolling opponent. The Grass starter clashed against the incoming rival with incredible strength his rather-small size perfectly hid away. A powerful explosion followed the impact of two powerfully-trained Pokemon.

Two thuds sounds landed on the arena. One figure remained standing and the other was down. Bulbasaur was smiling while Voltorb had swirls for eyes.

" **Voltorb is unable to battle. Bulbasaur wins. Gym leader, send out your next Pokemon**!" The referee said.

"Go Magneton!" The elderly gym leader called out his second Pokemon. It was the evolution of Magnemite, with three Magnemites attached together. Ash had faced this Pokemon before so no big deal here. He had the perfect Pokemon for this situation.

"Bulbasaur, return!" Ash recalled his Grass starter smiling. Despite Bulbasaur not wanting to evolve, it just went without missing that there was simply no need for that. He was more powerful that many other fully-evolved Pokemon "Now Phanpy, I choose you!" The Ground-type from Johto appeared, letting a cry of joy. It had an elephant-esque Pokemon with blue hide and a short trunk.

" **Magneton vs Phanpy, begin**!" The referee said.

Wattson wasn't surprised here. Type advantage was always something he had to deal with before.

"Use **Flash Cannon**!" The gym leader ordered. A silver beam was rapidly fired from Magneton's center between his three eyes reaching Phanpy in no time. The Ground type was sent flying backwards landing hard on the field. However, the Steel blast didn't do so much damage as one would have first thought because Phanpy quickly got back up with only minor scratches.

Ash was smiling. This training was really getting his Pokemon stronger.

"Use **Hidden Power**!" The challenger for the badge comanded. Phanpy sent the light-blue spheres into the enemy, making it cry out its name. The apparent Ice-move trapped Magneton inside an ice coffin.

"Now use **Take Down**!" Ash kept the offensive on. The Tusk Pokemon charged covered in a yellow aura tackling the ice casket into a wall. Phanpy's body shuddered taking recoil damage.

"You are no usual trainer, Ash" The elder gym leader stated smiling. The attack had freed his Pokemon from the ice "Fight back with **Giga Impact**!" Magneton soared forward with its body enshrouded in a red aura.

" **Defence Curl**!" Ash countered ready for one last and decisive strategy. Phanpy rolled its body into a ball, amplifying defence and attack. The incoming Pokemon hit its mark sending the baby Pokemon rolling backwards "Now **Roll Out**!" Phanpy stopped the back rolling and went forward-rolling, with twice the speed and strength thanks to its previously-used **Defence Curl**. Magneton, unable to move by the effective use of the Normal move, could only look on as its defeat kept coming ever so close.

In less than a second nothing could be done. The rolling Pokemon sent the Steel/Electric Pokemon flying away with a yell of pain by the supper effective Ground move. Magneton landed with swirls for eyes. Phanpy rolled back to its side of the field letting out cries of bliss. Ash was just about to congratulate his Pokemon, when the white light swallowed it.

The white light made Phanpy's body disappear, a figure in the light suddenly getting larger. The evolving light faded away. Now the new Pokemon had grey hide with black armor over its trunk and back. It also had two sharp tusks coming from its mouth. Ash's smile couldn't get any bigger. Phanpy had been the only baby Pokemon he had and too see it finally evolve was something he couldn't be any prouder of.

" **Magneton is unable to battle. Donphan wins. Gym leader, send out your last Pokemon**!" The referee said.

"You are up, Electrike!" Wattson called out his recently-captured Pokemon. It was an electric green-furred Pokemon resembling a lion cub.

"Great job, Donphan, return!" Ash recalled his Pokemon. Despite that for his new Donphan this battle would have been so easy, Ash still wanted to let his other Pokemon to get stronger. The trainer looked at its Electric starter "Let's go buddy!" Pikachu nodded jumping into the arena with sparks coming out of his cheeks.

" **Electrike vs Pikachu, begin**!" The referee announced the final round.

"Use **Thunder Fang**!" The white-haired gym leader ordered. His Electric Pokemon charged with its razor fangs covered in dangerous blue static. Ash waited until it could get closer preparing his special trick for this kind of situations. The attack could do damage, sure. Pikachu's ability was **Static** , not **Lightning Rod**. But even if it did cause damage, paralysis was no problem here for Ash. But neither that fact was going to help Ash. No electric Pokemon could be paralyzed.

"Use **Dig**!" Ash ordered earning wide looks out of everyone. Pikachu suddenly went underground leaving a hole at the surface of the arena. Electrike halted looking around in fear. The Mouse Pokemon suddenly bursted from the ground punching its Electric rival at its belly. Electrike fell backwards with shaking legs. That had been a super effective move.

"An electric type can use Ground moves?!" Wattson blurted out in shock. He had fifty years as a trainer. To see an Electric Pokemon use a Ground move was like looking at a Regirock using **Water Pulse**. Almost impossible and maybe one thing in a lifetime if you were lucky enough.

"There's always a first time for everything" Ash stated with a grin. His starter was ready to earn another badge "Now **Flash**!" Pikachu let loose a blinding white light over the field, taking Electrike's accuracy with it.

"Finish it with **Iron Tail**!" Ash comanded. The starter flipped forward slamming its silver-glowing tail on the Electric Dog Pokemon, forcing it to cry out in white-hot pain. Electrike careened backwards completely out for the count.

" **Electrike is unable to battle. Pikachu wins. The winner of the match is Ash Ketchum**!" The referee said.

"Ash, that was really awesome!" Wattson stated after recalling his Pokemon. He handed over a small yellow symbol "So here's the Dynamo Badge to show your victory in my gym"

"Thanks Wattson" The challenger from Kanto stated thanking his rival. Another badge down for the count in Hoenn.

* * *

 **Notes from Chapter 3:**

 **Ash won again. That's the purpose of this story. For Ash to do his gyms differently.**

 **Also Wattson has already caughted Electrike. So there's no need for a rematch.**

 **I skipped the whole Pikachu sickness after the Raikou robot incident.**

 **Also Ash captured one of the many Mudkips met in the breeding place. Brock also captured his own but we'll see Ash's more often than Brock's.**

 **Ash will capture Pokemon he should have caught in the Anime. You will read that later.**

 **I do think Phanpy should have evolved sooner. Not just wait in the lab until the Battle Frontier came so to then escape the lab.**

 **As always May is jealous of Ash. But we don't give a shit about her feelings.**

* * *

 **Another gym leader has been brought down! Check out the next chapter!**


	4. Flannery

**Gym Battles Redone**

 **And how is everything for everyone? Because I'm doing great! Four chapters already. Only thirty or more to go. That's the number of Gym leader remaining including Kalos. It's still going to take me a while to update a lot of chapters but I know you can wait.**

 **Now back to Anime, Serena lost the Queen of Kalos. No big deal there. Now do you think we can maybe focus on Ash getting his last Pokemon his team needs?**

 **Now let's read!**

* * *

 **Chapter 4: Flannery**

A gym battle was at hand in Lavaridge Town. The black-haired trainer called Ash Ketchum was definitely prepared for this very moment. His Pokemon had been slowly but certainly raising their power with each passing day of harsh training. Including old friends and brand-new ones.

A few days ago, Ash and Max had to take care of three Hoenn starters for Nurse Joy, who had to handle an incident with a Wailord, which had gone aground on the nearby beach. The trainer from Kanto had used a few of his own Pokemon to keep the three starters in check so they didn't run away. Sadly, Ash didn't take into account that the Torchic was quite a feisty one. It had ended up backfiring on Ash, when the Fire starter had unexpectedly evolved into a powerful Combusken. Instead of hiding that fact, Ash had decided to be honest with Nurse Joy and the starting trainer. After the Wailord had been returned to the sea, the starting trainer, a young girl had decided to pick up Mudkip as her starter. And her father had then actually picked up Treecko. Weird because that man had long ago decided to not be a Pokemon trainer for what he had said to everyone. That had left Combusken on its own. Though Ash had talked to Nurse Joy so to take the Fire starter and probably add it to its team. It showed quite a lot of potential for a starting Pokemon. The nurse had no objections as her siblings from the other regions had mentioned her how Ash properly treated his Pokemon.

Days after that, Ash and his group had found an injured Swablu. It seemed that a recent storm had injured its wings, stranding it from its pack. The raven-haired trainer had helped the Pokemon to get back to its former good health so to later send it back with its crew of Swablu and Altaria. However, by that time the Normal/Flying Pokemon didn't want to leave Ash' side at all. It was obvious he had grown fond of the caring teenager. Something that Ash didn't mind and welcomed with open arms. He wasn't one to leave a Pokemon if the Pokemon in question wanted to come with him. And if he got Swablu to evolve into Altaria, then the trainer might finally have his first Dragon-type on his team.

And yet that was before. Right now Ash wanted to focus solely on the battle at hand. And this gym leader was a Fire-type expert. Something he had already dealt with before. Though the battle against Blain back in Kanto had been a rather poor choice of Pokemon, which had brought Ash's downfall.

Ash was smiling. Not only because of the prospect of the battle. Also because his rival was quite the hot chick. Pun not intended but still funny and very true. Her name was Flannery. She had to be fourteen with fiery red hair and a tight black top, that stretched over a nice set of breasts, blue shaggy jeans with sandals showing her feet.

* * *

The red-haired teenager smiled excitement brimming out of her. This was going to be her first battle as the official gym leader of Lavaridge Town. She had just taken up the mantle after her grandfather had decided to visit many places for his new poetry inspiration. Though she had been left with a rather messy gym, Ash and his friends had helped her get everything in order. Mostly Ash as the young kid with glasses kept complaining about been too young to carry heavy weight, the other trainer been too occupied trying to flirt with her and that coordinator girl, who had pretty much glared at Flannery before sitting in the stances and done nothing ever since.

" _So much for friends you got, Ash_ " The gym leader thought to herself. But if they weren't going to do anything for him, then maybe she should. After all the challenger had inspired her to remain as a gym leader despite her first reluctance of taking up the job. It also helped that after a mock battle one of her twin Slugmas had evolved into Magcargo.

She smirked. She definitely owned Ash big time for his help.

* * *

The referee, a man on his sixties walked into the sidelines. He was Mr Moore, Flannery's grandfather, who had returned for the day to check on how things were running along. Brock, May and Max were as usual on the grades looking at the battle.

Well May was more like pouting with her chin resting on her hand in utter boredom. She was still fuming about Ash's behavior. Or lack there off towards her. Even after her recent capture of her Skitty, that still hadn't brought Ash's undivided attention to her. Why couldn't he see she was perfect for him? She didn't know a lot about Pokemon, so what? Who did know a lot?

" _Ash does_ " The voice of the author whispered in May's mind, making her want to rip her brown hair appart in sheer frustration. What or who did that annoying voice belong to?

No one in the arena paid heed to her fourth-wall conundrum. The gym battle was about to start.

" **This is an official three-on-three gym battle between gym leader Flannery and the challenger Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town in Kanto. There's no time limits and only the challenger can substitute his Pokemon. Now send out your first Pokemon!** " Mr Moore said as the referee.

"Go Meg!" Flannery called out her first Pokemon for the match. The nick-named Pokemon was a Slugma, a Fire-type Ash knew too well.

"Donphan, I choose you!" The trainer called out his own Pokemon. The elephant Pokemon landed with a thud showing its armor trunk and dangerous fangs to the rival. Unlike his other team members, the seasoned trainer had decided to keep his evolved Ground type so to fully know how strong it could get in the last weeks before sending it back home. Besides, Ground types were very effective on Fire Pokemon.

But for now, the battle was going to begin.

" **Slugma vs Donphan, begin!** " Mr Moore said starting the battle.

"Type advantage won't help you, Ash!" Flannery stated full of confidence, her elemental type flaming inside her body and mind "Meg, **Double Team**!" The Fire slug created five copies of itself hoping to distract the Ground-type Pokemon.

But neither Pokemon or challenger were so easily swayed away by that kind of strategy.

"And hiding won't help you either!" Ash replied prepared to fight will all he had and even more "Use **Bulldoze**!" The Tusk Pokemon roared, stomping the arena with a great deal of strength. Ripples instantly cracked over the arena, destroying all the fakes and also injuring the real Slugma, doing effective damage right away.

"Meg, don't give up!" The Fire-type gym leader stated very determined and zealous "Use **Smog**!" Slugma gazed at the opponent and barfed a cloud from the back of its throat. The thick black smoke headed for Donphan like if it had life of its own.

" **Sand Storm**!" Ash countered. The elephant Pokemon cried out its name summoning a raging weather condition. The raging wind washed the place away like a hurricane. Donphan disappeared, indicating it had **Sand Veil** as its ability, which amplified the elusion of the user. The wind had the added effect of dispersing the harmful Poison cloud. And was also injuring Slugma with effective damage.

"Oh no Meg!" Flannery said looking at her Pokemon been ravaged by the storm. She knew Ash wanted her badge but not this much. Her Pokemon could use Reflect but Ash was making sure to not come close for melee attacks.

Just how experienced was he really to use such moves to gain advantage? And did that experience also reflected in other subjects?

The red-haired teenage girl trainer shook her head. Where had that come from?

"Use **Earthquake**!" Ash ordered now seeing as Flannery was distracted by something in her mind. Donphan mightily stomped on the arena, sending powerful tremors over the whole gym again but many times worse. Slugma was sent flying away crying out it agony by the super effective move. It landed behind its trainer with swirls for eyes as the storm finally died out.

" **Slugma is unable to battle. Donphan wins. Gym leader, send out your next Pokemon!** " Mr Moore said. Flannery recalled her Pokemon for its valiant efforts.

"Go Mag!" The evolution of Slugma appeared. This one was a Magcargo. It differed from its previous from by its new nail-like shell resting on its back.

Ash recalled Donphan. While it had not sustained any kind of damage whatsoever, the trainer from Kanto still had other Pokemon, who wanted to test their strength in battle. And classics were just too hard to ignore in these cases.

"Let's go, buddy!" Ash called out another good-old friend of his. A small blue-scaled turtle Pokemon appeared with a tail ending in a spiral tip. Despite its short size, this Pokemon hid one of the biggest wallops in Ash's team.

* * *

"Look who is back" Brock stated with a broad smile. This was going to be a very interesting battle.

* * *

Ash smiled looking at his Squirtle back in action. The Water starter from Kanto had returned for the day after making a few calls back to the Officer Jenny of Johto. Ash would later send him back to Johto so to keep helping in the Squirtle squad to handdle fire incidents. But for the time here, Ash had wasted no second at all in making Squirtle catch up with his other Pokemon. The tiny Turtle Pokemon could not have evolved yet after so many years but his attacks were not something to be ignored or shrugged off so easily. Even by Ash's strongest team members.

" **Magcargo vs Squirtle, begin!** " The referee said.

"Mag, use **Sunny Day**!" Flannery started now. Her Shell Pokemon barfed an energy ball into the sky, duplicating the intensity of the sunlight. It would empower Fire moves and de-power Water ones. Hopefully the advantage would help her gain a small lead over her more experienced rival.

"Thank you!" Ash stated despite the obvious disadvantage he was facing now " **Ice Beam**!" Squirtle let loose the three-arc beam at high speeds hitting the opponent straight on the chest. Due to the weather and Magcargo's ability **Magma Armor** , then the Pokemon would not end up frozen. But it had still landed damage on the evolved Fire slug.

"Use **Withdraw**!" The fire-type trainer ordered really wanting to keep holding on for a bit longer. The Fire Slug retreated into its carapace increasing its defence by one stage.

"Not going to help you" Ash stated grinning. His Squirtle might not change the weather but he still could do a lot of damage if he so wanted "Use **Water Pledge**!" Squirtle punched the ground with one of his small fists. The water turrets erupted from the soil swallowing the sheltered Fire Pokemon, doing still little damage but still effective in the long run. Ash was waiting to draw the battle until the light died out.

A new blinding white light suddenly swallowed Squirtle's body making it grow bigger surprising anyone viewing. The evolution finished and the new Pokemon stood with a fluffy tail and a bit bulkier body with a harder turtle shell.

"Great job buddy!" Ash complimented his Water starter for his evolution, earning a thumb up from Wartortle. The trainer from Kanto checked his Pokedex to find some of his Pokemon's new moves.

Flannery was now sweating quite profusely. This was going to get bad in no time.

"Mag, use **Overheat** quickly!" The gym leader ordered right away. Her Slug Pokemon came out of its defence, barfing a red-glowing blast of searing heat. Wartortle could only cross his arms in front of him, the abrasive attack covering his whole frame leaving puddles of mud nearby. Ash looked on in concern after the blast had dissipated leaving a panting Magcargo behind. Yet there was nothing to worry about. The attack as powerful as it had been, had left nothing but a lot of bruises on the grinning evolved starter.

It was obvious its type advantage and recent evolution coupled with months of fighting fire as a fire killer made the starter of the Kanto region not even flinch or look worse for wear. No power augmentation for Fire moves could hinder Ash's Wartortle.

Ash looked at the sky and saw that the sunlight was returning to normal. Flannery almost coursed out loud but Ash beat her to the punch with his own comment. Or next move to be accurate.

"Use **Water Pulse**!" The trainer comanded. His evolved Water Pokemon cupped its hands together, a sphere of blue liquid as big as its body instantly charging up. Wartortle fired the powerful attack slamming head on with the opponent making it howl its name in pain, steam covering the Fire Pokemon. The Armor Slug Pokemon slanted down completely out for the count.

" **Magcargo is unable to battle. Wartortle wins. Gym leader, send out your last Pokemon**!" Mr Moore said. Flannery sighed. She wasn't going to give up but her chances of winning looked pretty dimmed. When a Water-type still got the knock out with weather condition against it then you knew you were screwed big time.

But the gym leader wasn't going to just forfeit the match. She wasn't going to let Ash's expectations of her crumble after so much pep talk to keep her going.

"Let's go, Torkoal!" Flannery called out her last Pokemon. This one was also a turtle though standing on four chubby legs with a coil black shell on its body. The Fire Pokemon unleashed black steam from its nosetrils indicating it was amp up and ready to go.

"Great job Wartortle, return!" Ash returned his Water starter thanking its effort in this battle. A reunion of friends was always something the trainer welcomed. And he was going to finish this battle that way "Tell me Flannery, is Torkoal your strongest Pokemon?"

"Actually he is" The red-haired teenager replied raising her eyebrow in curiosity.

"Then let me show you also a strong Pokemon" Ash stated preparing his last Pokeball "Go Kingler!" The Crab Pokemon from Kanto appeared with one of his pincers rather bigger than the other. The Pokemon from another region showed his claws at the rival, who snorted more smoke out of his nose.

The gym leader was looking rather smug now. She had type disadvantage of course. But she also had an ace up her sleeve.

Although her top didn't have sleeves but her metaphor still stood.

" **Torkoal vs Kingler, begin!** " Mr Moore said.

"Use **Inferno**!" Flannery quickly started without giving Ash time to think. Torkoal followed her order spewing a gigantic beam of orange fire, catching the fully-evolved Crab Pokemon making it growl in pain. The attack subsided a few seconds later leaving a churned Water Pokemon behind. Kingler's body suddenly erupted in flames without an attack been issued, now suffering burning status. That was always the effect of using **Inferno**.

"I wasn't expecting that one" Ash stated, making the hot gym leader smirk in delight. She had wanted to catch him off guard. Yet the grin suddenly covering Ash's lips brought all of her confidence down "But I bet you aren't expecting this one" Flannery didn't like how that sounded "Use **Scald**!" Kingler, undeterred by the burning sensation pointed its giant claw forward unleashing a boiling stream of water. The Fire Turtle was sent skidding backwards recieving a lot of damage by the effective move.

Suddenly, Torkoal's body also erupted ablaze, as that was the effect of using **Scald**. Now Torkoal was also suffering burning status putting the match in more even terms.

"Oh shit!" Flannery cursed out loud. Why did this trainer had to be hot and talented?

"Kingler, finish this with **Crabhammer**!" The trainer comanded. Kingler charged forward with incredible speed, his pincer glowing white.

" **Iron Defence**!" The gym leader countered hoping to come up with a proper strategy. The Fire Pokemon receded inside its shell, amplifying its defence to melee attacks. Kingler smashed his claw doing little damage the first time. But Ash now had Torkoal defenseless and right in front of him ready for the pick.

"Grab it and use **Hyper Beam**!" Ash ordered taking a page from his battle in the Indigo League. Kingler clawed on Torkoal and raised him up into the sky with his humongous pincer. Orange energy amassed and before Flannery could say something the devastating blast erupted like a volcano. The Flame Turtle disappeared into the sky as the blast faded out of existence.

A second later, Torkoal landed in the arena covered in soot and with swirls for eyes.

" **Torkoal is unable to battle. Kingler wins. The winner of the match is the challenger Ash Ketchum!** " Mr Moore stated declaring victory.

"Dam!" Flannery cursed recalling her Pokemon back "That was some serious OP battle" Not that she minded. As a gym leader she had to get used to fight strong trainers. Though Ash had definitely left his impression on her for as long as she were a gym leader.

"Well I've been making sure that all of my Pokemon were strong since I came to Hoenn" Ash explained to her now recalling his good-old friend from Kanto "I usually switch them up each week and also tell them to train back at home to perfect their new moves" Flannery couldn't dispute his training methods.

"Well Ash I have to hand you my Heat Badge" The teenage gym leader said handling her red-colored badge to her challenger. Ash gladly placed it on his badge case. Four down so far.

"As the battle is finally over, can we go to the steam baths?" May stated checking her brother's Pokenav for more info about the steam saunas. With Ash been so frustrating by been a continous lady magnet, the coordinator needed to kick back and rest for a while. Her last crushing lost in contests were making her lose her grip in sanity even further.

The fiery-headed gym leader suddenly had a light bulb lighted atop of her head. What better way to be close to Ash that a hot steamy bath?

"Sure, I can take you there!" Flannery suddenly chimed in. Before anyone could see her, she quickly led Ash to the entrance taking his hand and almost dragging him close to her "I can even give you a tour, Ash" Her comment was followed by a wink of her eye, making Ash blush in response. He had seen the same look on Shauna a few weeks ago. And it had ended in a nice make out session.

" _I have the weirdest boner right now_ " The trainer from Kanto thought trying to not let the tent on his pants show to everyone. Until he were in a more private place inside the steam bath.

A steam bath and a hot gym leader with a nice butt. Ash definitely enjoyed that thought. Flannery would definitely be as blazing as her elemental type.

Mr Moore sighed almost face palming. These teenagers and their hormones. Couldn't they keep it in their pants?

May's ears almost boiled like a kettle her hands shattering the Pokenav of her brother with baleful rage. Another whore had taken her claim AGAIN.

Max cried out indignant more concerned for his gadget than Ash leaving with a hot red-haired chick. He obviously hadn't hit puberty yet.

Brock was on a corner brooding and crying like when Professor Ivy had broken up with him. No one still knew why that had happened.

* * *

 **Notes from Chapter 4:**

 **And Ash is still attracting ladies to himself.**

 **I broke the 4th wall a bit back at the beginning with May.**

 **I didn't switch Donphan because Ground is effective to Fire as much as it is to Electric. But Donphan will be switched later on so to make room for other Pokemon.**

 **May is still yandere. But we don't care about her and we'll never will.**

 **There will be a list of Ash's Pokemon coming later. Maybe by the time Ash goes to Sinnoh, so to show most of the old Pokemon back and also to show all of his recent ones from Hoenn and Battle Frontier. All of Ash's Pokemon from the Anime will be captured plus my own additions.**

* * *

 **And the gym leader is down for the count and also down into the bed. See you in the next chapter!**


	5. Norman

**Gym Battles Redone**

 **Wow chapter 5 is finally here! I'm luckily able to update today but don't get used to it. I'm starting my studies again and this time things will get tougher for me to pay attention to my stories.**

 **Okay so far in the Anime I've watched:**

 **Ash fought against Alain. I know you might complain that Ash's Noivern shouldn't have lost to Alain's Metang, when he already fought a Zapdos. But to be fair, Noivern didn't actually fought Zapdos head on. He used deception and hiding to land some serious moves and to make Zapdos regain his sanity.**

 **And Mega-Charizard X vs Ash-Greninja. Now, while I did enjoyed the battle a lot, the weird Greninja form is just that... weird. As strong as it may be, I just don't like it. And Ash's wristband? Definitely hoping for a Mega-stone there. But sadly we may never have any Mega for Ash. Not that he needs it, mind you *Cough, cough, Charizard and Sceptile*.**

 **Now Greninja did cause more damage to Alain's Mega Charizard instead of been one-shot out. So Ash must be doing something right with his training time. However, he ended up blacking out because apparently Ash and Greninja can't keep the strain for too long. We saw more about that on the later episodes.**

 **Also Ash didn't catch the shiny Phantump. I really thought that he would get his Grass type of Kalos and his first official Ghost Pokemon, as Haunter was never really captured in a Pokeball. Unless Ash catches a Ghost-type in Alola then I just don't know when he will.**

 **And Ash fought Diantha. Doing damage this time. But again blacking out for the same aforementioned reasons. Luckily that has been finally taken care off after the rematch against Wulfric. Of course, calling back Infernape or Torkoal to easily win was out of the question, wasn't it?**

 **And now in the Kalos League, Ash is showing some serious owning battles against the poor guy, who had the bad luck to face off against Ash first and the hot blonde chick from the 17th movie. It took Ash 6 episodes to reach the semi-finals of Sinnoh and now he made it in 2. That's just more experience or lazy writing.**

 **Bad thing is, I till don't like Ash-Greninja. I don't think I will ever like it. It's just like Golden Frieza in my DBZ stories; never going to happen.**

 **And amazingly, Goodra is back! That must be the best plot twist I've ever enjoyed in Pokemon Anime. Maybe Ash will release it after the League. But I don't care. Ash called back a powerful ally that may be the turning point against Alain. Yes, he lost to a *sigh* Slurpuff. But one lousy battle can't define the next one, right?**

 **Enough with the recap, let's read my story!**

* * *

 **Chapter 5: Norman**

During the last few weeks, Ash had caught quite a nice lot of Pokemon. Specially while traveling through the Valley of Steel. During the dangerous trek over the desolated land, the trainer from Kanto had not only caught a Fire Pokemon Torkoal but also a very powerful Steel/Ground Steelix. During the skirmish between the two wild Pokemon, Ash's Treecko had evolved into his second form of Grovile, becoming essential to knock out the Steel/Ground snake with some of his new moves.

The evolution of Onyx, though angry at now belonging to a human had given up, when he had seen how strong the pack of Pokemon were courtesy of his new trainer. So maybe staying with him would not be so bad in the long run for him.

If those adventures hadn't been enough just the previous day, a mob of trainers had harassed Ash for his sudden comment about him been able to defeat Norman in his future gym battle while May suddenly found herself forced to perform a few of her coordinator performances completely out of the blue. A lot of trainers, ignoring the daughter of their 'sage Norman' had then proceeded to challenge Ash to a fight obviously thinking they could have an easy win over him. To which the teenager from Kanto had undoubtedly accepted not worried in the least. Despite beating most of the opponents with little trouble, Ash knew that these battles could help his team get significantly stronger. Thanks to these continous battles over a whole evening, his Taillow and Mudkip had finally evolved into Swellow and Marshtomp respectively. A good ammount of progress for his new teammates after just a few months of been with their trainer. This also showed the substantial improvement from his training methods, or rather lacking methods back in the Johto region.

At the present time Ash was facing Norman, leader of Petalburgh City Gym. Brock and May were on the sidelines alongside Max and Carolina, May's and Max's mother.

"Wow, this is going to be so cool!" The kid with the glasses said overly excited "Dad is so going to white-wash Ash!"

"How are you sure of that?" May asked towards her brother. Despite her tendencies towards Ash's other female 'companions', consisting of mostly the utmost desire to gut them alive, the brunette couldn't deny how strong Ash's Pokemon had been getting. More so than her father's for sure.

Max didn't got to answer that question, however, as the referee stepped on the sidelines of the battlefield.

* * *

Meanwhile, the raven-haired challenger and the Normal-type gym leader were standing on the opposite sides of the arena. Despite their meeting a few months ago letting Ash know first hand what kind of Pokemon he would be facing, Ash couldn't help but get a bit excited. That Vigoroth had easily dispatched Pikachu like if it had been a brand-new starter Pokemon. But that would not be the case this time after so much training.

"Are you ready for this, Ash?" Norman asked towards his challenger of the day with a beaming smile. As close as this boy was to his two children, the gym leader would not be holding back at all. "I hope you aren't a sore loser."

"Why would I?" Ash stated back with a mischievous grin. This wasn't his first gym battle. And certainly not his last.

" **This is an official three-on-three gym battle between gym leader Norman and the challenger Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town in Kanto. There's no time limits and only the challenger can substitute his Pokemon. Now send out your first Pokemon!** " Mr Moore said as the referee

"Slakoth, let's go!" Norman called out his first Pokemon for the match. It was a short-sized grey-furred sloth-like Pokemon with a rather laid back expression plastered on his face.

"Snorlax, you are up!" Ash sent out his also Normal-type Pokemon. The normal-type from Kanto appeared with a heavy thud yawning out loud as bored as his opponent. It stood three times the rival's heft and also thrice its belly width.

" **Slakoth vs Snorlax, begin!** " The referee said. A battle of lazies had begun.

"Use **Hidden Power**!" The gym leader ordered his first move. His Sloth Pokemon casually raised its hands aiming forward, bathing his enemy in a barrage of ruby-red glowing orbs. Snorlax stood there, taking all of them with mild discomfort. Anyone could recognize that it was Fire move. But Ash was still ready. Thanks to Snorlax's ability **Thick Fat** , the Fire damage had been greatly reduced.

"Use **Yawn**!" The challenger countered for his turn. The Fat Pokemon yawned sending sleeping waves towards the opponent. The smaller Normal-type Pokemon yawned too after been affected by the move. Norman knew that he had one turn before things got bad for him.

"Use **Blizzard** quickly!" The Gym leader comanded. Slakoth raised its hands up amassing an ice storm heading towards Snorlax. The attack covered the plump Pokemon' skin in a layer of ice. But again thanks to **Thick Fat** , the ice did very little damage to Snorlax. The massive Pokemon was still waiting for a serious command from his trainer. Slakoth's head slanted forward put asleep.

"Now **Heavy Slam**!" Ash ordered seeing Slakoth finally falling asleep. Snorlax jumped high so uncharacteristically for a Pokemon with its size. It came down on the rival casting a shadow over Slakoth. A second later, the arena rumbled under the tons of plummeting weight. Snorlax casually stood up and dusted himself off, with a flat-pancake Slakoth knocked out cold beneath him.

" **Slakoth is unable to battle. Snorlax wins. Gym leader, send out your next Pokemon**!" The referee said.

Max was looking rather surprised by the apparent easy victory from Ash. It was one thing to cheer for him against other gym leaders. But against his dad? Should he even cheer for Ash in the first place?

"Go Vigoroth!" Norman called out another one of his Normal types, obviously not taking his sudden easy defeat too seriously. The evolution of Slakoth appeared with a more active attitude. And with twice its pre-form height and bulk.

"Great job Snorlax, return!" Ash recalled his Pokemon in red light. His other hand prepared a Pokeball. "You are up, Combusken!" The Fire Chicken Pokemon from Hoenn appeared showing its clawed hands. Norman saw that his challenger had now gone into type advantage. Many usually tried it but failed.

" **Vigoroth vs Combusken, begin**!" The referee said

"Use **Slash**!" The two trainers comanded at the same time. Normal and Fire Pokemon charged forward with their hands aglow in long talons. The two powerful beings tried to cut each other to ribbons, slashing from side to side at great speed.

" **Hyper Voice**!" Norman comanded now. His Normal-type Pokemon took advantage of been up close to the opponent, widening its mouth. An explosive wave of screeching noises hurled Combusken backwards. The Fire Pokemon's taloned feet left small trenches on the soil until the attack ended, leaving the half Fighting Pokemon in front of his trainer a bit shaken up. And Norman wasn't going to let this stop him now.

" **Psybeam!** " The gym leader went offensive right away surprising his challenger. The Active Pokemon rapidly unleashed the rainbow-colored beam from its eyes, earning an agonizing cry of pain from the Fire starter. Now that had done a lot of damage to Combusken. The Fire-Fighting Pokemon fell to his knees extremely weakened by the constant attacks without a chance to gather his bearings.

"Use **Fire Blast**!" Norman called out his next order taking the lingering advantage with expertise. The Active Pokemon took a deep breath before letting loose the famous star-shaped Fire move in the span of two seconds. But Combusken had already regained its footing after the point-blank Psychic blast. Weary as he looked, the Fire Chicken wasn't letting his trainer down now.

"Intercept with **Overheat**!" Ash fought back with everything he had, his commanding voice unwavering. Combusken body went red aglow with barely-contained power, barfing the red hot stream of flames from its beak. The orange blast collided with the also fire move and erupted in a concentrated nuke inside the arena. The viewers on the benches had to cover their faces from the lashing wind, while the two trainers didn't relent from their standing positions waiting to see how things turned up. When the plumes of smoke had finally deaden, anyone could see the smoking body of the knocked out Normal-type of Hoenn. Combusken's body laid alongside it also out of consciousness and with the typical swirls for eyes.

" **Vigoroth and Combusken are both unable to battle. This match is a draw. Gym leader and challenger, send out your last and next Pokemon**!" The referee said.

"Okay Slaking, I'm counting on you!" The gym leader threw his last Pokeball of the match. The final form of Slakoth appeared resting in the arena sleeping with a loud snore. This Pokemon had brown fur instead of its pre-forms' white one.

"Don't worry Combusken, you did great," Ash recalled his beaten Pokemon with a smile. One small hindrance wasn't going to deter his Fire Pokemon from training even harder for future battles. Now Ash looked determined at this new opponent. Slakings were said to be so strong that they could brawl with Tyrannitars and Garchomps despite its natural ability been **Truant**. So there would be no holding back this time. "Now come out, Heracross!" The Bug and Fighting Pokemon from Johto appeared on the arena, ready for a battle standing with his dark azure scarab body.

" **Slaking vs Heracross, begin**!" The referee said.

Norman smirked, letting his Pokemon keep sleeping. Heracross looked rather annoyed by that course of action. He wanted a real battle. But Ash wasn't taking it so seriously. It was obvious something was up.

"If he is not attacking then we won't either," Ash stated with a victory grin across his face. "Use **Sword Dance**!" Heracross created an air vacuum around his scarab body, amplifying its physical attack by two stages.

Norman sweated nervously. His strategy hadn't worked as planned. Slaking's inaction was meant to goad Ash into recklessly attacking his Pokemon and ending up in his trap. But it wasn't going that way.

"Slaking, get up and use **Hypnosis**!" The Sloth Pokemon rapidly stood on his feet paws faster than someone its size could move. The Normal-type made its eyes glow blue sending the Psychic-type move at the opponent. Heracross' eyes got heavy until slumping down with a snore.

"Nice," Ash stated surprised by the sudden tactic. "Okay Heracross, **Sleeptalk**!" Suddenly Heracross's sleeping body created five or more copies of itself with an asleep **Double Team**.

"Use **Earthquake!** " Norman ordered trying to erase the fake ones. Slaking punched the arena hard sending trembling motions all over the place. All the fake bugs disappeared while the real one stumbled away after taking some non-effective damage. However, the rumbling over the arena had been the alarm needed to bring back Heracross to wakeness.

"Now use **Focus Punch**!" Ash kept the pressure on knowing full well that his Pokemon wouldn't go down with one attack alone. But Norman was already on the offensive before Heracross' punches could start charging.

"Fight back with **Shadow Punch**!" The gym leader hastily countered. The Sloth Pokemon shot his fist forward, like punching the air in front of him. Yet his fist had an eery purple coloration. Suddenly an spectral punch shot towards Heracross striking the Bug Pokemon on the armored chest hurling it backwards before it had even started his charge.

Ash widen his eyes. A Ghost move was a very bad news for him and Heracross. The auburn-eyed trainer made a mental note to catch a Ghost-type Pokemon as soon as possible to speed up his training regime.

For now, however, the seasoned trainer had a match to finish. And his Bug Pokemon could end it right away if only it could get close to the Sloth King Pokemon.

"Let's not keep him waiting, Slaking!" The Normal-type leader said grinning victoriously "Use another **Shadow Punch** and finish this!" The Sloth King Pokemon charged the eery purple energy in his fist once again, aiming for one-hit KO.

"Use **Feint Attack** to get behind Slaking!" Ash ordered. Just as the ghostly fist had been fired, Heracross had disappeared, almost like teleporting. Norman and Slaking barely got to gawk, when the Bug/Fighting Pokemon had reappeared from behind Slaking.

"Use **Night Slash**!" The raven-haired teenager comanded again grinning. His Pokemon obeyed, slashing upwards with his right hand aglow in dark energy. The uppercut motion of attack sent Slaking tumbling forward with painful-looking gashes all over its back. Thanks to Heracross' previous power-up of **Sword Dance** the physical attack had been quite a mighty one. The Sloth Pokemon stood up again but with a fearful look on its furry face.

"It flinched!" Ash stated smirking in sweet triumph before Norman could try to snap his Pokemon out of it "Now use **Seismic Toss**!" Heracross grabbed onto Slakoth in a bear hug that would not break and hastily spread its scintillating wings. The Bug Pokemon rapidly ascended like a blur towards the ceiling of the gym and just as fast descended, dropping its opponent at the last minute before crashing into the arena. The impact kicked up a cloud of dust, rubble flying all over the place. The Normal-type never stood up again, lying utterly beaten and out cold with swirls for eyes.

" **Slaking is unable to battle. Heracross wins. The winner of the match is Ash Ketchum**!" The referee said. Ash pumped his fist in happiness, Heracross doing the same despite his bothersome injuries.

"Well Ash, I won't say that I didn't feel kind of hurt," Norman stated scratching his head sheepishly after recalling his Pokemon "I never thought that such a young man could have trained such a powerful team of Pokemon," Norman gazed at Ash with a proud smile. "You keep that level and one day I might see you as the Champion of a region," Norman extended his hand with a small object inside it "For now here's my Balance Badge" Ash had the symbol of his triumph in his fingers. This had been a winning worthy of a badge.

"That's not fair!" Max yelled out angrily from the sidelines heading towards Ash and his dad with a firm pace. Tears were staining his eyes and his lenses. The ten-year-old kid glared daggers at his father for some reason. "You weren't supposed to lose to Ash!"

"Max, Ash and his Pokemon came prepared for this battle," Norman stated sagely trying to apace his young boy's outburst. "As a gym leader I can't win every battle I have." This was one of the reasons why he had never wanted Max to witness his gym battles. As a leader, he had to keep most of his Pokemon leveled enough for new trainers to at least have a shot before either beating Norman or dropping training. Ash was a definitive exception he could make every once in a while. Not many had the potential the teenager had.

"So?!" The young kid stated in anger obviously not seeing the point his father was trying to prove "He also went out on a date with Flannery and that shouldn't help him in a battle!" Norman coughed awkwardly while Caroline blushed a bit.

"No, but it helps in life" Ash stated with a smirk knowing that Max was obviously clueless to what he and his fiery gym leader had done a few weeks ago. Brock was again on the corner crying out his miserable love life. May glared daggers at Ash though for different reasons than those from her brother's. She couldn't care less about a stupid gym badge.

* * *

 **Notes from Chapter 5:**

 **Ash won...again. Surprised? He did have a tougher time against Norman but obvious eventuality is obvious.**

 **Yes, May is still moody. Now Max is too but from another reason. Though he is not going yandere or anything.**

 **For those wondering Ash's Pokemon so far, I will write a list after the last gym battle of Hoenn. Which is Juan.**

* * *

 **And Ash has claimed another gym. Because he didn't do that in the Anime, right? Whatever, later dudes!**


	6. Winona

**Gym Battles Redone**

 **Okay, another one of my most awaited chapters is here! For those fans of mine who just keep asking: No! I'm not going through the League Battles and the Battle Frontier. Those aren't gym battles to redo.**

 **I know it's been a while since I last updated any of my stories. Hopefully the next story to get an update is going to be the last chapter of "Start of a Legend", or possibly published in this case is going to be the sequel of "Unexpected Twist". I know many have been clamouring for that awesomeness to finally appear. But it's still rough around the edges. And I'm also working with other Animes stories to keep variety. Not to mention my long-forgotten DBZ stories and crossovers collecting dust in my computer and this website.**

 **Anyhow, let's get the show on the road!**

* * *

 **Chapter 6: Winona**

Ash Ketchum stood on a platform easily sixty feet above ground level. Good thing he had no issue with great heights. Flying on the back of many Pokemon, some even Legendary could make you immune to great altitude in the short run and a bit daredevilish in the long run.

The last month hadn't been so interesting for the teenager hailing from Kanto. Sure, the trainer from Pallet had not caught any new Pokemon as of yet but the ones he had just kept getting stronger thanks to his constant switching. And without many trainers to have battles with, Ash had started to train up his team alongside May. Her newly-caught Bulbasaur definitely needed a hand to learn new moves if it was to be useful in future contests. It was during those training sessions that the teenager would sometimes find that May usually stared at him for long periods of time only to take her sight away blushing up a storm. Not that he minded at all. He would also catch a glimpse of May's chest jiggling at times whenever she wasn't looking. Or when the coordinator was 'pretending' that she wasn't looking at him.

But not paying the pubescent lady attention for the time being, Ash focused solely in his Gym battle. His opponent was Winona, a young nineteen-year old lady dressed in some sort of full-body sky blue suit with wing decoration around her ears. After arriving in Fortree City a few hours ago, the battle enthusiastic teenager had gone straight into the Gym surprised that apparently the battlefield would be more suitable for Flying-types only. As that was the type Winona was specialised.

" **This is an official three-on-three gym battle between gym leader Winona and the challenger Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town in Kanto. There's no time limit and only the challenger can substitute his Pokemon. Now send out your first Pokemon!** " The referee voice out, two flags in hand.

"Fly high, Altaria!" The gym leader called out her first Flying Pokemon. The evolved form of Swablu floated up in the air arena. Its body resembled a peacock with wings aching to cotton candy.

Ash looked on serious at his opponent. Until he grinned in victory by his idea. Despite a few switches in his current team, it didn't mean he had to also use Flying-type Pokemon. That was the good thing about keeping a variety of Pokemon with different typing.

"Go low, Steelix!" Ash called out one of his newest Pokemon caught just weeks ago. The Iron snake roared, looking up into the enemy with no fear.

Winona's eyes widen before her expression turned to a giggling grin. So Ash was thinking that giving her the type advantage would help him win? And a Ground type against a Flying type? Yeah, because an **Earthquake** attack would definitely be able to shake the sky.

" **Altaria vs Steelix, begin!** " The referee said lifting its flags.

"Let's start with **Dragon Dance**!" Winona ordered her first move of the battle. Her Dragon-type obeyed, roaring out a majestic cry with its phoenix body covered in red light. Now its speed and attack had increased by one stage.

Ash didn't even pay heed.

" **Dig**!" Ash countered now in the most unorthodox way. Steelix lost itself into the soil leaving almost no trace of his presence behind.

* * *

"What is Ash planning?" Max asked completely smacked by Ash's tactic. Despite the sort of fall-out after seeing his father lose a Gym battle, the young kid had to admit that Ash was just too good. "Steelix can't do anything while underground."

Meanwhile, Brock was rubbing his chin already guessing that something unusual was about to be thrown down. It was only a matter of waiting.

* * *

"Use **Autotomize**!" Ash ordered again taking advantage of his rival's inactivity by the surprise. The rumbling from the inside of the soil indicated that the order had been obeyed.

"Altaria, start flying now!" The gym leader voiced her command with fear in her voice. She knew that as long as Altaria was standing or remained close to the ground, it was vulnerable.

"Come out and use **Smack Down**!" The trainer from Kanto ordered before things got out of hand. Before The Dragon Pokemon could move an inch into the sky, Steelix's smirking smug bursted from the ground with a red glow appearing at the back of its throat. The suddenness was increased by the swiftness of the blast hitting Altaria making the Dragon cry out in pain. A lot of bruises were visible on its smaller frame, when compared to the towering beast of iron.

What surprised the three viewers the most, however, was that Altaria had descended and could no longer get into the air, no matter how much it flapped its cloud-like wings.

" **Ice Fang**!" Ash ordered smiling. This round was his. The Iron Snake shot forward with speed that didn't fit its size, his teeth covered in ice. The poor Flying Pokemon had no chance of dodging in such a warned-out condition. The bite came like a ton of bricks of pressure crunching on the howling Altaria, frostbite spreading over its phoenix body. The moment Steelix stopped was when everyone could see the swirls for eyes and lack of movement coming from the half Flying type.

"That sneaky bastard!" Winona cried out her face hitting red in anger. How could she have forgotten about THAT one move that ALL Flying-type trainers hated?

* * *

"But what happened?" May asked completely aghast. She was no expert in battles despite her scarce victories in the coordinator circuit. But she definitely knew that a Flying type should have been able to fly away and dodge the opponent.

"Ash knew that Ground moves were useless, especially with Altaria flying," Brock explained still surprised by such a clever tactic. "That's why he took advantage of Winona's tardiness to attack to amplify Steelix' speed," The Rock-type expert kept on "Steelix are known for their strength and toughness but lacking in speed. Of course it all depends on how you train it," As a trainer with an Onyx, Brock knew the limitations his starter would get if it evolved. "With **Smack Down** , however, the whole open space to fly is useless," The two siblings were now very curious. " **Smack Down** is not only a Rock-type move, super effective against Flying Pokemon but also incapacitates the opponent for the following turns. In Flying Pokemon, it stops them from taking flight. It happens the same with Pokemon, which have the ability **Levitate**."

The Mapple siblings were shocked by such a tactic. Talking about finding loopholes in battles. No wonder Ash's Pokemon had started evolving so soon. All the Pokemon in his team not only knew such bizarre tactics but also had to have the power to back it up. Otherwise there was little chance of leaving a lasting impression in the rival's mind.

* * *

" **Altaria is unable to battle. This first round goes to the challenger. Gym leader, send out your next Pokemon!** " The referee said.

"Skarmory, take into the skies!" Winona sent out her second Pokemon. The powerful-looking Iron Bird howled from the air towards the opponent.

After recalling Steelix, Ash threw his next Pokeball. Now it was time to test this leader in her element and see how good she really was.

"You are up, Noctowl!" The seasoned trainer sent his own Flying-type Pokemon. The owl from Johto hooted after appearing in the arena. Of course there was something unique about that Pokemon.

"It's so cute!" Winona cried out with hearts for eyes. She never expected this trainer to also have a Flying-type shiny Pokemon. A cough from the referee brought the leader out of dream land. Time for gawking was later. Now she had to be wary of the enemy's Pokemon.

* * *

"Hey, I remember watching Noctowl in the Silver Conference," Max stated his mood turning into fanboy. "It's a very rare shiny one." His comment went without an answer as May and Brock were too focused on the arena not paying heed to the kid.

* * *

" **Noctowl vs Skarmory, begin**!" The referee said.

"Use **Metal Sound**!" The Gym leader ordered, knowing one of her tactics that usually never failed. But again, her challenger was not 'usual'. Her Iron Pokemon widen its mouth, waves of ultrasound escaping from the back of its throat. Noctowl shook its head in discomfort. Now its special defence had dropped by two stages.

"Very good," Ash acknowledged that clever move. But her advantage would remain untested if Ash had something to say about it "Use **Double Team**!" The teenager voiced out his order. His Shiny Pokemon hooted and six clones appeared around Skarmory.

"Blast them all with **Flash Cannon!** " Winona ordered. Her Pokemon instantly charged the silver-coloured beam from its mouth and swiped its neck from left to right, the stream of energy eradicating all the fakes plus hitting the real Noctowl. Despite the shiny Pokemon having time to dodge, the blast had churned one of its wings making it hard to keep flying.

" **Extrasensory!** " Ash commanded knowing that his Pokemon could take a bit more punishment before been brought down. Noctowl's eyes sent rainbow-coloured waves of power towards the Iron Bird. The Psychic move hit its mark making the Steel type growl in anger after receiving a bit of damage.

" **Steel Wing!** " The Gym leader attacked with her advantage. Her Pokemon shot forward faster than a bullet, ready to close the gap in instants.

"Match it with your own!" Ash charged head on, knowing that there was a possibility his Pokemon might lose this confrontation. His Noctowl shot forward ignoring the pain, while his wings aglow in white. The impact was followed by cries of pain, one thud hitting the arena.

Noctowl laid there, unconscious. Skarmory growled in victory although its metallic body now had scraps all over its plates as it was obvious no easy victory to finally claim.

" **Noctowl is unable to battle. Skarmory wins. Challenger, send out your next Pokemon!** " The referee said.

Ash recalled his defeated Pokemon now at two heads in how to proceed. Skarmory had taken a bit of damage from the battle and looked much winded. He could use Steelix again. But at the same time, the teenager wanted to see which Pokemon his challenge would use for her last. So with that in mind, the trainer from Kanto grabbed another Pokeball.

"And then came Swellow!" Ash threw his last Pokeball, opening and revealing the native black-feathered bird of Hoenn hovering.

" **Skarmory vs Swellow, begin!** " The referee started the next match with a raise of flags.

" **Metal Sound** again!" Winona started the round. Her Pokemon again unleashed the effective power-down move from the back of its throat.

" **Aerial Ace**!" Ash countered. Swellow disappeared from the path of the incoming sound suddenly reappearing from behind the unsuspecting opponent with a stella behind its body by the dashing speed.

"Intercept with **Mirror Shot**!" Winona tried to counter. She knew that her Steel-type Pokemon while fast in straight charges had a quite cumbersome body for hasty maneuverability. Skarmory flipped around one hundred and eighty, more silver energy amassing on its mouth.

However, Swellow proved to not only be the fastest but also the snarkiest by hitting the low jaw of Skarmory with his burst of speed. The closing of the mouth caused the charged-up attack to burst inside the jaws making the Iron Bird growl in pain. Winona widened her eyes in shock. That had to be of the fastest accelerations she had ever witnessed in a Flying type.

"Use **Mimic!** " Ash ordered applying pressure on the flicker of a distraction. His Swellow charged up a sphere very identical to the one he had just intercepted from Skarmory. The Armor Pokemon had no time to wonder when the attack hit its long beak without missing an inch. A green aura covered Skarmory, who remained air bound despite looking a bit dazed and still in pain.

" **Flash Cannon!** " The gym leader ordered hoping to keep that accursed bird away. Her Pokemon charged the attack and fire in three seconds. Yet Ash or Swellow didn't try to dodge. Because the silver beam completely flew over the bird of Hoenn, losing itself into the sky.

That's exactly what she feared of that move. Now her Pokemon's accuracy had dropped.

"Finish this with **Mirror Shot**!" Ash ordered again going for the finishing blow. His Pokemon followed through with the attack while Ash smiled. His Swellow could use **Mirror Shot** until the end of the battle thanks to the advantage of **Mimic**.

While the trainer from Kanto pondered that, Skarmory had been stroke in the chest by the powerful blast. Its limp body plummeted to the ground bellow utterly unconscious.

" **Skarmory is unable to battle. Swellow wins. Gym leader, send out your last Pokemon!** " The referee indicated. The Gym leader recalled her Pokemon knowing that this battle was one of her toughest ever.

"Take into the air, my dear Swellow!" Winona called out her starter. Her Swellow was slightly larger than the average. But its most defining characteristic was its unique feather coloration. It was light azure with vibrant red on the chest.

* * *

"She also has a shiny Pokemon!" The kid behind his glasses yelled out at the top of his lungs in disbelief. One shiny Pokemon was scarce enough. But two on the same battle? It had to be one of the best days of his life!

"Yes Max, we have eyes too." The brunette commented sarcastically adding an extra roll of her eyes.

* * *

The two boisterous birds started growling at each other. Unlike the more docile Pidgeys of Kanto, and the nocturnal Hoothoots, Taillows were known for been quite more savage against all kinds of intruders. And that included members of their own species. That was to be considered as to why Swellows didn't travel in big packs like its pre-form did.

" **Swellow vs Swellow, begin!** " The referee said.

"Start with **Quick Attack**!" Winona started again. Her Pokemon shot forward with easily twice the speed of Skarmory.

"Stop it with **Aerial Ace**!" Ash fought back. His Flying Pokemon again disappeared from sight and came from behind its target. Yet the smirk on Winona's lips said that something was off.

As Ash had expected, Winona's shiny Pokemon almost instantly U-turned and went straight for its opponent. The two birds were colliding constantly with each other at such speed that they were a black and blue blur over the arena. However, while Winona's Pokemon seemed to have advantage in strength and move maneuverability, Ash's had it in speed due to his smaller size compared to the shiny Pokemon.

After a wrong turn in trying to attack with its beak, the shiny Swellow found himself slapped by someone's wing on its head. Ash' Swellow was grinning in a very obvious sign that he had just bitch-slapped his inferior.

If either trainer knew what was going on, they didn't care. They had one goal. To win.

"Use **Brave Bird**!" Winona ordered not liking the fact her starter was being steadily surpassed until the point of tiredness. Her shiny Flying-type careered straight towards the opponent, energy manifesting around its body in an aura of blue flames.

"Just a bit closer," Ash murmured to himself waiting for the right time. This tactic would be a nice payback for she did to his Noctowl. His Swellow kept flapping its wings, unflinching by the incoming projectile. His trainer knew exactly how to handle this. "Stop Swellow with **Supersonic**!" The shiny Pokemon had no time to know what was going on until the other Swellow had opened its beak and a massive burst of deafening high-pitched noise connected with his ears. The shiny Pokemon could barely remain air bound, either by his cries of pain or by the fact that it could no longer coordinate the flapping motions of his wings.

"Swellow, get it together!" Winona cried out hoping to break her Pokemon's trance. But it was futile. The move always caused confusion. And now she was done for.

"And that's how you wrap up the battle," Ash commented with a smile, his hand pointing forward " **Sky Attack**!" The trainer answered to her challenge with equal intensity. His regional Flying type shot forward at the staggered enemy with a vibrant white aura covering it. The shiny Pokemon had no time to gather its bearings before the collision happened with a resounding boom that sent mighty shockwaves that pushed the two trainers and referee slightly back. The powerful clash lasted for almost a minute, no movement visible through the cloud of dust.

That was until a figure flew from the upper side of the fog with a cry of victory. Ash's Swellow was visible despite the few bruises on his body. Yet what was more important was the knocked out Swellow it carried on its taloned feet. Ash' Swellow cawed with raw power to the sky in an obvious display of superiority for his race.

" **Winona's Swellow is unable to battle. Ash's Swellow wins. The winner of the match is the challenger Ash Ketchum!** " The referee declared.

Winona couldn't believe it. Just like she had ordered during her previous battle, Ash had used a sound move and then went for the kill. This trainer knew how to not only use his opponent's tactics against themselves but also switch them with his own as swift as the wind.

Gym Leader and challenger met down in the arena after been descended from their high stances.

"Well Ash, I can't deny you more than anyone deserves my Feather Badge." Winona said smiling with her palm forward. The literal feather symbol was taken by Ash, who couldn't help but grin victorious placing the new badge in the case.

Two more.

* * *

 **Notes from Chapter 6:**

 **Ash won. Seriously, is there a point for me to even write this? At this point of the Anime, Ash had lost almost no battle. One was against Drake from the Elite Four but come on, it's the Elite Four!**

 **I know Skarmory doesn't learn Mirror Shot. But I don't care.**

 **I toned down a bit the hate towards May. I don't really have much of the perverse humour that wanted me to humiliate her when I first started.**

 **If you are wondering how could Noctowl lose so easily, let's just say that this is the last chapter in which Ash loses ANY Pokemon. A spoiler, I presume but you are the ones reading.**

* * *

 **Well our favourite trainer has earnt another badge. Will he get the others as well? Of course he will! Why are you even reading this story if you didn't think that?**

 **Anyway, see you all around!**


	7. Liza and Tate

**Gym Battles Redone**

 **And so the seventh chapter of this gymnastic sensation remake is here! Nothing much to say, things flowing smoothly over here. In fact, you should expect the first chapter of Unexpected Twist' sequel named "A Legend's Journey" by next week.**

 **So enjoy this chapter!**

* * *

 **Chapter 7: Liza and Tate**

Mossdeep City gym was bustling with activity. Ash Ketchum was back on the game, his electric starter Pikachu next to him as usual. In the stances, his travelling companions May, Max and Brock waited for the battle to commence. The arena for the day was very unique, with ten-meter wide planetoids hovering close to the ceiling. The city was widely known for always exploring the stars and the mysteries hidden in space. So it was obvious that the gym leaders, children to the founder of the Mossdeep Space Centre also themed themselves for space while choosing Pokemon that were not only the Psychic type but also related to the stars above.

The thirteen-year-old trainer from Kanto folded his cap preparing for the match of the day. The last couple of weeks since his last gym battle would have been called monotonous by many. But not by him. As he spent time training more of his Pokemon, despite no new additions made to the overall roster. All of Ash's Pokemon's strength was put to the test when the two evil organisations of Hoenn, Team Magma and Team Aqua attempted to one up each other by controlling the slumbering Legendary Pokemon they each craved for, Groudon for Magma to expand the land masses and Kyogre for Aqua to drown the world under the massive tidal waves.

Sadly, team Aqua was the resulting winner after an infiltrated agent managed to awaken the lord of the Oceans Kyogre, who proceeded to destroy the secret base of his Magma captors. During the resulting skirmish against the many grunts to escape the destruction, Ash's Swablu found the strength to evolve into a beautiful Altaria. With one devastating **Perish Song** , the pack of Mightyenas and their trainers were put down to rest. Things would have ended badly for all them with the leader of Team Aqua Archie ordering the Sea Basin Pokemon to use its powers to sink the island with not only Ash and his companions in it but also Team Magma and the members of Team Aqua. Ash, however, was not going to let that happen.

After he successfully stole the Blue Orb from Maxie, Team Magma's leader, the seasoned trainer was granted the power to control the mighty Continent Pokemon Groudon. Despite the orb fusing inside Ash's body, the teenager found out that his will and resolve were just as unwavering as his Pokemon's and his sanity remained strong. Commanding the Continent Pokemon alongside his own team tipped the scale in Ash's favour against the fluctuating weather and the constant rampage of the ocean waves, as Groudon and Kyogre made the landscape shift with massive tremors and chasms swallowing the oceans and tsunamis colliding with the flank of the island in the attempt to overpower each other. The timing arrival of Lance, Champion of Kanto and Johto had proved to be the decisive edge as he was able to use his shiny Gyarados to take down the distracted leader of Team Aqua, whose mind had long succumbed to the Red Orb. After the two rival legends parted ways, the orb inside Ash was released and destroyed.

As hectic as that sounded the teenager from Pallet Town was way too used to such events. If they didn't happen, he actually worried.

Digression aside, the trainer in black jacket was standing on his side of the field his two rivals of the day opposite to him smiling. Dressed in space jumpsuits a girl and a boy, both teenagers barely Ash's age were ready to battle.

" **This is a double battle between the Mossdeep City gym leaders Liza and Tate against the challenger Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town. There's no substitution and the only winner is declared when the two Pokemon of either side has been knocked out,** " The referee and also the gym leader's mother Rachel called out the instructions of the match. " **Now release your two Pokemon!** "

"Solrock, you are up!" The younger brother Tate called out his Pokemon. His partner was a maroon-coloured rock-made Pokemon floating. It had five sharp edges and small chunks of yellowish cobalt.

"My Lunatone, come out!" The elder sister Liza sent her own hovering Pokemon. Her companion was a quarter Moon-shaped white Pokemon with red eyes and a very pointy beak. It also had the same unique craters found in the real Moon.

"Combusken, Corphish, I choose you!" The raven-haired challenger threw his two Pokeballs into the arena. The second stage Fire Pokemon and first stage Water Pokemon appeared on the battlefield. Despite the rather weird room filled with many planets hanging around the ceiling, Combusken and Corphish looked not fazed in the least.

Ash knew that just like Winona, letting these two siblings get the advantage of being air-bound was a grave mistake. He knew that Flying-type Pokemon would do well in such an odd field. But it was also clearly obvious that sending out a Flying-type against Rock-type Pokemon was a very bad call.

" **Lunatone and Solrock vs Combusken and Corphish, begin!** " The referee Rachel said initiating the match.

"Combusken use **Dig** , Corphish **Ice Beam**!" Ash started boisterously hoping one of his many strategies would work. The Fire Chicken got underground almost instantaneously as his Water partner unleashed the three-arc freezing beam from one of its pincers.

The science siblings were taking aback by such hastiness. Usually they could work a clever plan around someone so cocky. But Ash was obviously not going to let them take the lead so easily.

" **Light Screen**!" Liza countered. Lunatone's eyes glow in blue creating the protective cubic barrier around the two space Pokemon. The long-range attack hit its mark but thanks to the defence, all the following special attacks had been cut in half.

Ash grinned. So far so good.

"Come out with **Brick Break**!" The older teenager ordered. His dual-type Pokemon bursted from the soil with his claws glowing in white. His upward slash not only hit Lunatone but also created a shattering noise of glass around the two Psychic-type Pokemon. Thanks the Fighting move, the defence had literally crumbled.

"Use **Psychic** on Combusken and send him flying!" Tate ordered hoping to catch a break and start their own offensive maneuvers before Ash pushed them into defence again. The Sun Pokemon glared at the Fire starter, its eyes coming alive with bluish color. The psychic aura covered Combusken, who grunted in discomfort until been flung straight into one of the many hovering fake planetoids of the arena. The Fire Pokemon landed creating a perfect silhouette of its body. However, Ash knew that his Pokemon, despite taking effective damage would work through it just fine. That was the point of so much training.

"Corphish, **Water Pulse** on Lunatone!" The seasoned trainer voiced his next order, Corphish raising its two pincers and amassing a meter-wide ball of hyper-pressure water. With one enemy distracted and the other injured, then Ash knew exactly who to attack. As the old saying said, divide and conquer. The still shaking Lunar Pokemon was met head on with an orb of super compressed water, which sent it hurling into a wall with a cry of pain by the effective damage.

"Lunatone, get up!" The female leader pleaded to her Pokemon, who could only grunt in discomfort. The aftershocks of the attack were not leaving yet.

"Okay Combusken, **Sky Uppercut**!" Ash's voice brought the gym leader siblings back to their current predicament. Combusken, standing upside down on the planetoid thanks to its talons, shot downwards with a propelling of his powerful legs. But Ash was not going to just leave it at that, "Corphish, help him out with **Crabhammer**!" The Lobster Pokemon jump right from behind his partner and using his glowing pincer, he hit the taloned feet of the Fire Pokemon. This had the effect of instantly doubling the charging speed.

"Solrock use **Psychic** again!" Tate ordered, hoping to gain enough leverage so that her sister's Pokemon could recover. Ash knew that the Solar Pokemon was not going to have enough time to both counter and defend the Moon Pokemon. And with Lunatone still unreactive, it was time to finish this as swiftly as possible. So it was time for the ultimate combo.

But not on Lunatone.

"Combusken, send Solrock to Corphish!" The order was met with shock from the gym leaders and a mighty cry of power from the Fire-type. By the time of the two seconds it took Solrock to prepare its mind move, The Fire starter was already flying behind him out of range. The hasty hundred and eighty turnaround was something completely unexpected for gym Leader and Pokemon alike. With the glowing claws from his hand, the Fire Chicken sent the shocked Solrock careening into the opposite side of the field leaving cuts on the back of it.

Directly into the pincers of a smirking Water Pokemon.

"Corphish, finish Solrock with your double **Crabhammer** / **Knock Off**!" Ash ordered, taking a page from May's contest tactics. He would thank her later for such a powerful dual move. The left pincer started shining with white light. A black aura of energy spread over Corphish's right pincer as he double-slammed them on the upper side of the incoming Rock Pokemon's body. The Sun Pokemon cried out a mighty 'sol' in white pain when its body was pressed hard into the ground by the two very effective moves. A crater three feet deep was his current make-shift grave. The Psychic type never moved again, his eyes now swirly.

" **Solrock is unable to battle!** " The referee said. However, the battle hadn't stopped as the rules dictated that the two Pokemon had to be defeated. Tate recalled his Pokemon a bit downhearted.

"Corphish, **Aqua Jet**!" Ash called out his next order. His Lobster Pokemon's body was swallowed by a column of icy-blue water. Corphish shot forward, a pillar of liquid pushing him from his parting point.

"Use **Reflect**!" Lisa countered, hoping she could at least bring one of the two Pokemon down. Her bruised Pokemon responded with its full power no less, creating another crystalline-like defence. This time, however, it would reduce the effectiveness of physical moves.

If she had used the move alongside her brother earlier on the match, the two would have been shattered by Combusken.

" _Hold on!_ " Liza thought to herself suddenly realising something. Did Ash know her Pokemon could use that move to compliment her brother's **Light Screen**? Or he was going by a guess that her Lunatone had that move?

The fact Ash was smiling should have been the clue that the gym leader had been lured into the Pyroar's mouth.

"Move up!" Ash ordered with no lack of confidence. Corphish suddenly manoeuvred into the ceiling, shocking Lisa. And leaving her Pokemon wide open for another attack. "Combusken, **Brick Break**!" The Chicken Pokemon shot forward with blurring speeds, his claw again glowing bright blue. The Fighting type move came down like a ton of bricks. It not only shattered the amplified defence but also sent the Rock-type reeling by the backlash of a devastating move.

If the move literally meant 'to shatter brick', then Lunatone was rather lucky its body was so much stronger than regular stone. Otherwise, Ash would have been legally charged by second degree Pokemon murder.

"Now Corphish, finish this!" The trainer from Kanto commanded again. The lobster Pokemon came down with massive momentum accumulated, slamming its water-shrouded body into the unsuspecting Lunar Pokemon. Already worn out by the barrage of moves it was forced to take, Lunatone could only cry out a weak 'lu' before dropping down into the dusty ground also with swirly eyes.

" **Lunatone is unable to battle. Combusken and Corphish win. The winner of the match is Ash Ketchum!** " The referee said. Liza recalled her psychic Pokemon with a sigh of defeat and a weak smile alongside her brother.

"You pulled some serious tactics back there," Tate said towards the winner of the match. "Imagine if you had created some sort of fire armor for Combusken?"

Ash raised an eyebrow. What kind of strategy was that? By the glare Liza was giving her brother, she was on Ash's side.

"Do you know how stupid that sounds?" The elder sibling asked her brother rhetorically. After a sigh to calm herself, Liza sent her hands forward with a small box. "Here Ash, this is your new Mind Badge." Ash claimed the newest symbol with a massive grin.

One left.

* * *

Meanwhile on the stances, Brock looked rather happy. So did May. Max, not so much.

"How long was that battle?" May asked her brother with a taunting voice. The kid with glasses mumbled a verily audible answer.

"Nine minutes." Max growled. Ever since Winona's gym battle, the travelling companions had begun betting polls to see how long the next gym battle would take. Max had foolishly bet on the ten minute mark and higher. And by the Rock-type gym leader and the contestant's happy grins, it was obvious who had won.

Sadly, Max was not a legal trainer and didn't have money of his own. So May had lent him. But if he were to loose, the younger brother would have to do all of May's chores back home after their journey through Hoenn was over. And by the looks of it, the list was piling up on him.

The ten year-old couldn't believe it. He knew that Ash was a very powerful training. But not to such a massive degree. It was like an Elite Four was playing around with the gym leaders just for giggles.

One thing for certain, however, was that Ash was going to definitely take more than ten minutes in the next battle. As it was the last Gym battle then it only merited fighting against the strongest rivals, right?

It was at that moment that Max should have known…he fucked up.

* * *

 **Notes from Chapter 7:**

 **And Ash wins again. Seriously, anyhow is still shocked? We have three more regions so get used to this quickly. Because Ash will pull even more humiliating defeats as his Pokemon grow stronger.**

 **As you have guessed, the events with Team Aqua and Magma and the orbs and Groudon and Kyogre happened but were much different.**

 **Yes, a slight jab at the Thunder Armor. I liked it but it would have been better against Water types and not Rock types. And it would have been better if Ash had used Grovile and Corphish instead of Swellow and Pikachu.**

 **Sorry, couldn't resist at the end. Just a bit of side along fun.**

* * *

 **One gym remains in Ash's way to complete Hoenn. Will he claim victory just as easily? Find out on the next chapter!**


End file.
